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Appointments Begin a New Phase for Obama

President-elect Barack Obama in Chicago announcing appointments, including Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.Credit
Jim Wilson/The New York Times

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama put the rancor and even some of the rhetoric of the presidential campaign behind him on Monday as he welcomed his chief Democratic adversary into his cabinet and signaled flexibility in his plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Introducing a national security team anchored by Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, Mr. Obama said a new strategic agreement with Baghdad put the United States “on a glide path to reduce our forces in Iraq.” But while he reaffirmed his desire to pull out combat brigades within 16 months, Mr. Obama emphasized his willingness to consider options put forth by the military.

“I believe that 16 months is the right timeframe,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference, with Mrs. Clinton and Robert M. Gates, whom he is keeping on as defense secretary, as well as other appointees. “But as I have said consistently, I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders. And my No. 1 priority is making sure that our troops remain safe in this transition phase and that the Iraqi people are well served by a government that is taking on increased responsibility for its own security.”

Mr. Obama has long qualified his withdrawal pledge, but in the campaign the emphasis was on his intent to end the war. Now that he is taking office in 50 days, he is calibrating his statements to leave room to maneuver, knowing that some senior military officers are wary of moving too quickly and that the defense secretary he just reappointed has cautioned about timetables.

The impression left by the event at a downtown Chicago hotel ballroom was of a political leader converting to governance from electioneering. Most striking in that regard was the sight of Mr. Obama side by side with Mrs. Clinton, whose foreign-policy judgment and credentials he questioned just months ago, and Mr. Gates, who has for the last two years run the war Mr. Obama condemned for a president he denounced.

Mr. Obama essentially said Americans should not take too seriously some of the things said during “the heat of a campaign.” Reminded of some of his caustic criticism of Mrs. Clinton’s foreign policy experience — “grossly exaggerated,” his campaign called it — Mr. Obama shrugged off the discordant notes with a smile.

“This is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign,” he said. He went on to say that he and Mrs. Clinton shared a broad view of American interests, and he praised her experience.

“She is going to be an outstanding secretary of state,” Mr. Obama said. “And if I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have offered her the job. And if she didn’t believe that I was equipped to lead this nation in such a difficult time, she would not have accepted.”

In deference to Mrs. Clinton’s stature (and later the others), Mr. Obama gave her an opportunity to make a statement from the lectern, something he did not do with any of his economic appointees last week, and she promised to give “my all” to him and his administration. “I am proud to join you on what will be a difficult and exciting adventure in this new century,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And may God bless you and all who serve with you and our great country.”

The body language was friendly and appropriate, if not necessarily personal. Standing behind Mr. Obama during his remarks, Mrs. Clinton nodded as he spoke of the nation’s challenges; after the event ended, the two walked out of the room arm in arm, her hand gently patting his back.

Besides formally announcing Mrs. Clinton’s nomination, Mr. Obama said he was keeping on Mr. Gates, and while some close to the transition had suggested it would be a short-term holdover, the president-elect put no time limit on the Pentagon chief’s tenure. Mr. Obama also introduced Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant and North Atlantic Treaty Organization supreme commander, as his national security adviser and confirmed plans to nominate Eric H. Holder Jr., a former deputy attorney general, for attorney general; Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona for secretary of homeland security; and Susan E. Rice, a former assistant secretary of state, for ambassador to the United Nations.

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Mr. Obama’s remarks on Iraq signaled a careful approach to scaling back the mission there as he plans to send more forces to Afghanistan. The Iraqi Parliament has approved a strategic agreement requiring American combat forces to pull out of cities by June 2009 and all American troops to leave the country by the end of 2011.

The president-elect did not embrace the particulars but said the agreement “points us in the right direction.” He also reminded Americans that he said during the campaign that American forces would remain in Iraq even after the withdrawal of those designated as combat brigades. It is “likely to be necessary to maintain a residual force to provide potential training, logistical support to protect our civilians in Iraq,” he said.

Mr. Obama expressed concern that militants could exploit the withdrawal. “We will have to remain vigilant in making sure that any terrorist elements that remain in Iraq do not become strengthened as a consequence of our drawdown,” he said.

Beyond Iraq, Mr. Obama gave little indication of his first moves in foreign policy. Two leading research groups plan to issue a report Tuesday calling on him to move quickly to open direct diplomatic talks with Iran without preconditions.

The report by the groups, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, urges Mr. Obama to put all issues on the table with Iran, including its nuclear program. The proposal calls for “swift early steps” to exploit a “honeymoon” period between his inauguration and the internal political jockeying preceding Iran’s presidential elections in June.

The report breaks with experts on Iran who say Mr. Obama should wait until a clear winner emerges in Iran and calls instead for “treating the Iranian state as a unitary actor rather than endeavoring to play its contending factions against one another.” The report also calls on him to back Israeli peace talks with Syria.

In calling on Monday for a “new dawn of American leadership,” Mr. Obama assembled leaders with whom he had disagreed on fundamental issues. During the campaign, he repeatedly cited his early opposition to the Iraq war, but in Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates, he tapped two figures who supported the 2003 invasion before turning more skeptical of the war.

Mr. Obama said he wanted “strong personalities and strong opinions” to foster robust discussion. “One of the dangers in the White House, based on my reading of history, is that you get wrapped up in groupthink and everybody agrees with everything and there’s no discussion and there are no dissenting views,” he said. “So I’m going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House.” But he added: “As Harry Truman said, the buck will stop with me.”

The Republican National Committee issued a compendium of campaign statements in which Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton had criticized each other on foreign policy. The Republican group asked “whether Senator Clinton still carries those same, real concerns about President-elect Obama and his stances on critical issues confronting the nation.”

From another point of the political spectrum, Christopher Preble, the foreign policy director from the Cato Institute, a libertarian organization, criticized Mr. Obama for tapping people who once supported the Iraq war. The lineup, Mr. Preble said, “suggests that we will only get more of the same.”

Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: With His Cabinet Appointments, Obama Puts the Campaign Behind Him. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe